Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/208710
10 mt survey maltatoday, SUNDAY, 10 NOVEMBER 2013 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 What Malta thinks about th James Debono A majority of Maltese think the Budget is positive, and an equal number have expressed their opposition to the IIP citizenship scheme proposed by the government through which non-EU citizens will be able to buy Maltese citizenship by offering a €650,000 donation. The award of citizenship through the controversial scheme is expected to yield €30 million for the public coffers, half of which will go directly in the Budget presented on Monday and the remaining €15 million invested in a national development fund – an injection that will enable the government to limit the extent of indirect taxation in the budget but exposed the government to criticism of devaluing Maltese citizenship. The MaltaToday survey shows that with the exception of a slight majority of Labour voters, there is widespread opposition to the new citizenship scheme among all sectors of society. Significantly 29% of Labour voters are against the scheme while a further 17% insist that the €650,000 donation should be accompanied by a significant investment in the country. This is ironically the position advocated by the Nationalist Opposition in parliament during the past days. Moreover a staggering 71% of respondents and 72% of Labour voters favour the publication of anyone granted citizenship through this scheme. The government has already made it clear that the names of these persons will not be published. But despite widespread opposition to the citizenship scheme, 53% of respondents expressed a positive judgement on the budget. Less than 4% said that the budget would affect them negatively. Even among PN voters in the last election only 6% said that the budget would affect negatively. 53% against sale of citizenship The survey shows that an absolute majority are in principle against the sale of Maltese citizenship to foreigners. While 53% are against the sale of citizenship to foreigners willing to pay €650,000 as proposed by the government, 10% would only grant citizenship to those who make a significant investment in the country over and above the €650,000 donation. This suggests that nearly twothirds of the Maltese are against the citizenship scheme proposed by the government, which offers citizenship against a €650,000 donation. Interestingly 87% of Nationalist voters pronounced themselves against any sale of citizenship and only 5% supported granting citizenship to those making a substantial investment in the country – a position advocated by the PN in parliament during the past days. On the other hand Labour voters are split in three categories, with a relative majority of 46% agreeing with the government's proposal, 17% insisting that the scheme should only be offered to people who accompany the donation with a significant investment and 29% opposing the concept of selling citizenship. This suggests that despite the attempt of the government to project the scheme as a way to attract investment to the country, 46% of Labour voters are either opposed to the scheme in principle or prefer the model proposed by the opposition through which only investors would be eligible to citizenship. Respondents who voted PN in 2008 and switched to Labour in 2013 are also lukewarm on the new citizenship scheme. 50% of switchers oppose the scheme in principle while 17% would bind citizenship to substantial investment. Significantly, agreement with this scheme is highest among younger respondents. Among those aged under 35, agreement with the scheme rises to 32%. But even among this category, 55% oppose the scheme on principle. Agreement with the scheme is lowest among those aged between 35 and 54. Among this category agreement drops to just 22%. Over 55-year-olds are more likely to limit the award of citizenship to investors. Curiously while opposition to the citizenship scheme is highest among university-educated re- Do you agree with the scheme through which Maltese citizenship will be granted to foreigners who pay €650,000? % Yes Only if accompanied by investment No Don't know Survey highlights: • Only 26% agree with award of citizenship to foreigners paying €650 ,000 – 53% disagree • 10% think €650,000 donation should be accompanied by substa ntial investments • 29% of Labour voters opposed to sale of citizenship;50% of switc hers opposed • Support for citizenshi p scheme higher among younger voters; lowest among university-educa ted • 71% of respondents and 95% of universityeducated say names of people awarded citizens hip through scheme should be published. • 72% of Labour voters want names of people awarded citizenship thro ugh scheme published • Labour voters more inc lined to support citizens hip for "rich" people than fo r children of migrants living in Malta, Nationa list voters more inclined to favour citizenship for "p oorer" category • 53% say budget has affected them positive ly, only 3.5% say it is "negative " • One-fif th of PN vote rs say budget as positive , but only 6% say negative • 11% of PL voters, 25 % of switchers describe budget as "so and so" spondents, 61% of which oppose the scheme in principle, agreement with the scheme is highest among those with a post-secondary level of education (33%). A vast majority of secondary-educated respondents (56%) are also opposed to the scheme. In a clear indica- 26 9.8 53.1 11.1 BY POLITICAL AFFILIATION % Yes Only if accompanied by investment No Don't Know PN 5.9 4.7 87.1 2.3 PL 45.7 16.8 28.9 8.6 Switchers 29.1 16.7 50 4.2 BY LEVEL OF EDUCATION % University Yes 24.4 Only if accompanied by investment 7.3 No 61 Don't know 7.3 Post-Sec 33.3 6.7 46.7 13.3 Secondary 26.4 9.6 56.3 7.7 Primary 22.7 12.1 48.9 16.3 BY AGE % 18-34 Yes 31.6 Only if accompanied by investment 7.7 No 54.7 Don't Know 6 35-54 22 8.9 58.5 10.6 55+ 26.1 10.5 50.1 13.3 Joseph Muscat tion that PN voters have moved away from the party's laissez-faire reputation, only 6% of PN voters support the new scheme. 71% want names of new citizens published